TV Signal Issue With BT Vision & Youview Boxes

March 13, 2019

by

Tom

My inspiration for writing this blog because I have
encountered a peculiar problem isolated to with BT Vision and Youview boxes and
I’m sure many BT Vision boxes have been binned or subscriptions cancelled by
something that could have been easily fixed.

I mean BT profits are not my primary concern but if we want
to get broadband installed in this country capable of meeting the demands of
the 21st century then I guess we need them to remain profitable.

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My main concern is that there are people out there who
potentially wanted BT Vision which hasn’t worked as they had hoped only to find
they have hit a dead end..

Genuine BT Vision Signal Issue Scenario

Here’s the scenario, your BT Vision Youview box is playing
up, TV signal is pixelating and you’re experiencing loss of TV picture. You get
the TV aerial installer who installed the aerial or aerial TV point who tests
the signal on his TV spectrum analyser who says it is working fine and confirms
this for you by unplugging the aerial coax from the set top box and pugs it
direct in to TV where the signal is working perfectly.

Naturally he blames the box, saying it is faulty after retuning
and testing.

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Confident you have a faulty box you go back to BT to explain
the problem who book an installer to come out and install you a new box, which
he does only for that not to work also and he says that the problem lies with
the TV aerial and not with the BT Vision box who also claims you need a “digital
TV aerial” (No such thing by the way)

You go back to installer and report that you have a problem
with the aerial, you may meet some reluctance here but any good installer
should come back to investigate their own work at least once. It is my personal
opinion here and I may be biased if you are expecting your installer to come
back multiple times to investigate signal issues and it can’t be confirmed that
they have done anything wrong you should expect to pay for their time after one
visit to come back and investigate a problem as there are numerous reasons you could
be having signal issues that was not their fault or covered by any guarantee
and they have certainly not charged you for originally to investigate.
Obviously if the installer has made a mistake with the installation then he
should fix the issue with no charge.

Sorry I meant a bit off topic there…

The installer arrives who closely monitors the incoming
signal and can still see nothing wrong with the signal, no out of band
interference, no 4G/ 5G interference, all signals are acceptable levels with
good C/N readings. He is a good installer so he has state of the art test equipment,
more specifically a Promax HD Ranger.

Could it be that you have been given two faulty Youview
boxes by BT? Surely Not?

Just so he can say he has tried and exhausted all
possibilities he installs a bandpass filter just before the TV that fixes the
problem, which it shouldn’t have and has just unearthed a TV signal problem
that seems to be isolated to BT Vision & Youview set top boxes. In his 11
years in the trade he has seem numerous issues similar to this but has only
ever had this exact problem one other time not on a BT Vision box. He has now
seen this issue nearly 10 times in the last few years exclusively on BT Vision
boxes.

Who Was Wrong The TV Aerial Installer Or The BT Engineer?

Well remarkably neither was in the wrong, the aerial
installer had installed an aerial point that worked fine, the BT Engineer had
installed two set top boxes that both worked fine.

I’m going to end all mystery here and reveal myself as the
aerial installer in this scenario, no more talking in the third person from
here on. J

The above story was the first time I encountered this issue
with the boxes when I installed a new aerial point in Northiam in East Sussex
near Hastings and all was true apart from the bit where the customer was met
with reluctance when reporting the issue. I was in the peculiar position where
the customer was saying that he believed he needed a new digital TV aerial after
being told by the BT installer that he needed one and wanted one and I was
saying that he didn’t need one and should save his money, I even got a letter
from Tim Jenks at the CAI to dispel the myth of a “digital TV Aerial”. I was
not trying to be difficult I was actually trying to save him money and was
concerned that installing a new TV aerial would still not fix the problem.

I was right in this instance and got a four year old C/D
filter off the van with fixed it.

How To Fix The BT Vision & Youview Signal Issue

Like I said above this has happened numerous times and simply
installing correct band pass filter for the transmitter you are using before
the box itself has fixed the problem.

I’m not saying that this will fix all or most problems because
it won’t but if you are ever in the position where your aerial installer is
blaming BT for the poor TV reception and vice versa and you feel like the middle
man not knowing what to do. Ask your aerial installer to try the above, he may
say it won’t work or is unnecessary but please continue until he has tried it
at least. Even show him this blog for good measure.

You will need to ask the aerial installer as the BT
installer in unlikely to understand what you are asking of him and is almost
certainly not going to have the filter required on the van.

If you’re comfortable terminating a coaxial cable you could
do this yourself and save yourself the cost of calling out an aerial company.
Simply do a bit of research on the transmitter you’re using and buy a correct
band pass filter on the internet for the frequencies that it uses.

I hope that this blog helps at least one person as it drawing
on my own personal experiences it must have affected many boxes out there.

If you are having problems with BT Vision reception problems
in Eastbourne or BT Vision reception problems in Hastings or Bexhill &
Seaford. Across the entire East Sussex for that fact from Brighton up to
Crowborough and across the Rye then please do contact us as we can help you.

If you liked this blog or have any questions, please do LEAVE
A COMMENT below and I will try to help you.

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